Education, From The Capitol To The Classroom

Stories about students: How does education policy affect the way students learn and grow? Can schools meet their needs as they balance ramped-up testing with personal changes and busy schedules? And are students who need help getting it?

Stories about educators: How are those responsible for implementing education policy in schools − from classroom teachers, to district administrators, to school board members − affected by changes at the top? And how well do they meet their challenge of reaching students with varying abilities and needs?

Stories about school assessment: With an increased push for 'accountability' in schools, what can test scores tell us about teacher effectiveness and student learning − and what can't they tell us? What does the data say about how schools at all levels are performing?

Stories about government influence: Who are the people and groups most instrumental in crafting education policy? What are their priorities and agendas? And how do they work together when they disagree?

Stories about money: How do local, state, and federal governments pay to support the education policies they craft? How do direct costs of going to school − from textbooks to tuition − hit a parent or student's bottom line? And how do changing budgets and funding formulas affect learning and teaching?

Bennett has brought in $1.3 million in campaign contributions since his election four years ago — more than $812,000 in 2012 alone — with the thick of the political fundraising season still to come. By contrast, Democratic challenger Glenda Ritz has raised $112,000 to date, largely from the political arms of the state’s teachers unions.

A majority of Bennett’s campaign funds come from contributors in Indiana. But roughly 40 percent of his campaign cash has come from out-of-state givers, including from a company tapped to lead a school takeover and from the mayor of New York City.

Click here to view a map and sortable database of contributions to state superintendent Tony Bennett's re-election campaign. (You can also find a list of contributions to Bennett's opponent, Glenda Ritz, on a separate page.)

Indeed, out-of-state contributions tend to raise eyebrows, says Andrew Downs, who directs the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IPFW. But he says such gifts are not unusual for candidates running for statewide office — even in down-ballot races — and adds Bennett’s high fundraising numbers more likely reflect his rising political star.

“He is certainly making it a more high-profile race,” Downs tells StateImpact. “We can’t exactly call it top of the ticket yet by any stretch, but he certainly is making it a higher-profile among the other state offices. And if he has political aspirations to go beyond this office, then what he is doing is good practice to run for governor or for U.S. Senate.”

Hoosiers for Economic Growth PAC (Indianapolis, Ind.) — $45,000. Along with many of the state’s top Republican contributors, the Hoosiers for Economic Growth Political Action Committee receives the lion’s share of its dollars from two main sources: First, the committee has received $250,000 since 2008 from Indiana native, Utah resident, Overstock.com founder, “Warren Buffett protégé” and Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice chairperson Patrick Byrne — himself an individual donor to Bennett’s campaign. Second, since 2008, the Terre Haute-based American Federation for Children Action Fund — which, Steve Hinnefeld notes, supports private school vouchers — has contributed more than $460,000 to Hoosiers for Economic Growth.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed $40,000 to Tony Bennett's campaign for re-election.

Michael Bloomberg (New York, N.Y.) — $40,000. Yes, as in this Michael Bloomberg, who has championed school choice as mayor of the nation’s largest city.

If you exclude Alice Walton’s $200,000 gift from Arkansas, Bennett’s in-state contribution percentage increases to about 70 percent, a figure comparable to most of Indiana’s gubernatorial candidates in the last three elections. (Walton’s contribution is far larger than any other individual gift to the state superintendent’s re-election campaign.)

Bennett’s opponent, Glenda Ritz, has received roughly two dozen contributions. Infusions of cash from I-PACE — the Indiana State Teachers Association’s PAC — and the Indiana Federation of Teachers, make up more than 90 percent of the amount in Ritz’s campaign coffers.

Though Bennett is an incumbent and has been campaigning far longer than Ritz, in the time period since Ritz received the first of $112,000 in total contributions to her campaign, Bennett has raised more than four times that amount — $450,000.

“What we’re seeing is the move to completely privatize education.”—David Galvin, political director for Glenda Ritz

“There are a lot of people in Indiana and around the country who are encouraged by the progress we’ve made on behalf of students,” spokesperson Ross McMullin wrote to StateImpact. “We welcome that support. Our opposition is well-funded and our focus is to ensure this progress continues, so we must work hard to win a second term.”

In the 2008 campaign, Bennett faced Democratic candidate Richard Wood. At the time, both were former superintendents and political newcomers. Bennett raised about $483,000. Wood raised about $67,000, but received smaller contributions from organizations affiliated with the state’s teachers unions than Ritz is receiving this year.

What The Money Means (If Anything)

Bennett’s critics say the influx of out-of-state donations indicates more trouble is ahead for traditional public schools. They contend traditional public education is hurt by the pro-charter, pro-voucher policies for which Bennett has advocated.

“What we’re seeing is the move to completely privatize education,” says David Galvin, the political director of Glenda Ritz’s campaign. “I think all of these are moves to break down the public school system.”

IPFW political scientist Andrew Downs cautions against attributing too much meaning to large campaign contributions.

Kyle Stokes / StateImpact Indiana

State superintendent Tony Bennett delivers the first "State of Education" address in Indianapolis in September 2011.

“There’s no doubt contributions get you access,” Downs says, giving you a better chance of having a candidate’s ear once he or she is elected. But, Downs expounds, there is a system of “checks and balances” in place to ensure a campaign contribution does not have undue influence on the awarding of a government contract, for example.

We wrote a few months ago about Edison Learning, the educational management company that donated $1,000 to Bennett’s campaign in 2009. Nearly two years later, Edison Learning was tapped to turn around Gary’s Roosevelt High School. Bennett says the contribution had no effect on the decision to select the company.

“Given the scope of the money that’s involved [in the state takeover process], I would tell you that if all they gave me was $1000, and they’re looking for a contract, I’m a pretty cheap date,” Bennett told a Gary audience in September, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

School management company Charter Schools USA donated $1,500 to the Bennett campaign in February, several months after state education officials selected them to run four takeover schools in Indianapolis.

Topics

Comments

inteach

“…the money behind HEG doesn’t come from Hoosiers and it has nothing to do with economic growth. HEG gets most of its funding, including all $275,000 it reported receiving this year, from the American Federation for Children, a school-voucher advocacy organization headed by Michigan conservative activist Betsy DeVos.

Much of AFC’s money – including $1.2 million in early 2012 – has come from three investment managers affiliated with Philadelphia firm Susquehanna International Group, Joel Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik and Jeff Yass, according to the organization’s Indiana campaign finance reports. In previous years, AFC got more than $1.5 million from Alice Walton, whose family owns Wal-Mart, and $1 million from New York hedge-fund manager Julian Robertson.”